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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Barend C Koops Died 66 years ago

66 years ago today, on 8 October 1945, Barend "Bernard" C Koops died in Sioux Center, Iowa. He was my Great Great Grandfather. I'm pretty sure that his middle initial "C" is for Cornelis, after his father, but I have not seen it documented anywhere that could prove or disprove that.

On the back of his memorial service program it had a copy of his obituary:

Mr. Barend Koops passed away at the home of his children, Mr. and Mrs. William Koops early Monday morning after a lingering illness due to heart trouble and complications. He had reached the age of 81 years.

Mr. Koops was born in Noord Bramband [Brabant], Netherlands, on Dec. 17, 1864, and the family came to America 25 years ago, coming directly to Sioux Center and have lived here since that time. He worked as sexton for 15 years, but had to retire seven years ago due to failing health. He is survived by his two sons William of Sioux Center and Cornelius of Bellflower, Calif., and 13 grandchildren three of whom Bernard, James and Albert Koops are in the service. He is also survived by two great grandchildren, a brother Arie in Canada and a sister still living in the Netherlands. His wife, a brother and two sisters preceded him in death.

Mr. and Mrs. Koops were united in marriage in the Netherlands in 1893 and enjoyed 44 years of married life together. Since her death he first made his home at the John M Vander Berg residence for several years and after he became seriously ill the early part of the summer he was taken care of at the home of his children.

For more info on Barend, check out my World Connect page on Rootsweb.com.